1998 December 9

Investors Group Inc. v. Hudson, [1998] Q.J. No. 4543 (SC)

Alleged Cyber Libel: Website posting
Canadian court has jurisdiction? Yes
Canadian court should decline jurisdiction? Not in issue.

The Québec Superior Court held that although a resident of Québec had published allegedly defamatory comments on an Internet site at a server outside that province, the Court had jurisdiction to hear the matter. The Court noted that all the facts which were the subject of the lawsuit had their origins in Québec. The defendant prepared the website in Québec and resided in that province. Customers or potential customers of the plaintiff resided in Québec and elsewhere in Canada.